30 Rock: A One-Time Special

“30 Rock: A One-Time Special” absolutely excels at what it is and does. It is a perfect commercial for NBC Universal, a perfect commercial for television, and a perfect commercial for people who believe they are too cool to watch commercials but not too cool to watch television reunion specials. ... A blatant hour-long commercial for television is technically the natural progression for the story 30 Rock told, which allows the special to somehow reach an even higher level of meta inception than it already had.

Yes, it’s an infomercial and yes, the NBCU ads during the “commercial breaks” are pure puffery. But there are more than enough funny moments to keep you watching. Just keep your finger poised over that one-minute skip button; you’ll need it.

It was a 60-minute sales pitch lumbering around inside the husk of an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning sitcom.

If you’re a “30 Rock” fan who tuned in to see a “30 Rock” reunion special, it would have felt both very strange and... well, kind of familiar. ... Maybe if “30 Rock” were still airing now and had to integrate a Peacock shoutout instead of briefly returning for the express purpose of acting as an advertorial boost, it might’ve erred towards something slyer.

The episode started well. ... But the velocity was disrupted, increasingly frequently, with throws to NBCUniversal content. ... Where there had once been toothless rebellion, now there was eager compliance—even if the show had trained me to see insincerity floating in the air, like the afterimage from decade-old flash.

The special felt like a forced, largely jokeless game of "Name That Celebrity." ... If only the rest of the "30 Rock" special was half as inspired as Krakowski's wonderfully weird performance. Instead, it all felt just as hopelessly out of touch as Dennis Duffy's beepers.

“30 Rock’s” sardonic skills in the meta department couldn’t overcome the corporate stink of it all.